QUOTEWORTHY.

"A portion of what I do is about selling tickets, but a...

"A portion of what I do is about selling tickets, but a bigger portion is about building community and giving that community a sense of discovery."

--Colleen Miller, 39, who books entertainment at the Old Town School of Folk Music, on having brought forth an array of traditional, Americana, ethnic and folk music since 1997, in Chicago magazine

"When I'm embroidering, I can feel my blood pressure drop. It allows me to relax and be productive at the same time. ... I didn't even know if I would finish [a project when I started out], and then I could not stop working on it."

--Jenny Hart, 30, on her hobby turned business, Sublime Stitching, through which she sells about 500 patterns a month from her Austin, Texas, studio, in Budget Living

"You're talking about race, you're talking about really hot topics, and you have to hope that at the end of the day you'll promote discussion--whether they agree with you or not."

--poet and performer Vanessa Hidary, 32, about her one-woman show "Culture Bandit," based on her life growing up in the multicultural environment of New York's Upper West Side, in Bust

"As hard as it was, all I have is me, so I had to start believing in me. With all the stuff that the world puts on women--the hair and makeup--we have to know that we're beautiful people. We have to be able to set our spirits free from all the lies."

--Grammy Award-winning singer Mary J. Blige, 32, who recently released the album "Love and Life," on finally believing she is beautiful, in Honey

"You realize ... you are not, in fact, Julia Roberts. At best you're one of the Arquette sisters--in for an act or two, a catalyst for someone else's story."

--Cindy Chupack, 38, an Emmy Award-winning writer for "Sex and the City," on dating married men, as quoted in her new book "The Between Boyfriends Book" (St. Martin's, $19.95)

"As soon as I started `Baywatch,' I called PETA and was like, `Please--if I do one more interview about myself, I'm going to get sick. What information do you need out there? Because people are writing down what I say.'"

--actress Pamela Anderson, 36, on her commitment to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in The Advocate